The Coast Guard says authorities have suspended the search for a small plane that apparently crashed into the ocean in the Bahamas with four people on board, including two children and a prominent New York businesswoman.

Air traffic control lost contact with the Mitsubishi MU-2B aircraft while it was heading to Titusville from Puerto Rico. A search that included the Coast Guard and Bahamas Defense Forces located plane debris east of the Bahamian island of Eleuthera.

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The people on board the plane were identified as Nathan Ulrich, 52, of Lee, New Hampshire, and Jennifer Blumin of New York, 40, along with her 3- and 4-year-old sons.

A Coast Guard statement said the search area covered an expanse of ocean the size of Massachusetts before it was suspended late Thursday.